SOS Approach to Feeding

Developed by Dr. Kay Toomey, the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding program is an effective way to address problematic feeding behaviors in a variety of settings and populations. Parents and caregivers of children who will not eat are faced with a difficult and often puzzling challenge. Because the interplay between weight gain and a child’ s experience of food can be complicated, there is rarely an easy solution when a feeding problem arises. The SOS Approach uses a transdisciplinary team approach which assess the “whole child”: organ systems; muscles; development; sensory processing; oral-motor skills; learning, behavior and cognition; nutrition and the environment. 

 The SOS Approach focuses on increasing a child’s comfort level by exploring and learning about the different properties of food. 

A Pediatric Psychologist who has worked with children who don’t eat for almost 30 years. She has developed the SOS Approach to Feeding as a family centered program for assessing and treating children with Feeding Problems. Dr. Toomey speaks nationally and internationally about her approach. She also acts as a consultant to Gerber Products. Dr. Toomey helped to form The Children’s Hospital – Denver’s Pediatric Oral Feeding Clinic, as well as the Rose Medical Center’s Pediatric Feeding Center. Dr. Toomey co-chaired the Pediatric Therapy Services Department at Rose Medical Center prior to entering private practice. Dr. Toomey is currently the President of Toomey & Associates, Inc., as well as the Clinical Director of SOS Feeding Solutions @ STAR (Sensory Therapy and Research Center with Dr. Lucy Jane Miller). 

A Speech Pathologist with a Doctoral degree in Clinical Sciences – Health Services Research. She completed a two-year post-doctoral training in the Section of Nutrition and is a Clinical Instructor in the School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Ross has over 25 years of experience working in the NICU within several HealthONE hospitals, and with children at the SOS Feeding Solutions clinic in Denver, Colorado. She has specialized in the development of feeding skills, and the etiology and treatment of feeding and growth problems in infants and very young children from initial hospitalization through the first 5 years of life. 

www.sosapproach-conferences.com